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Mass. Gubernatorial Candidates Make Final Push

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker asked Massachusetts voters on Saturday if they've "had enough" yet, saying they can overhaul state government and lower their taxes if they oust Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick and elect him next week.

"You know that we have a choice in three days," he told a crowd of about 500 gathered in crisp fall air on a traditional New England town common. "We can choose four more years of Gov. Patrick, four more years of no reform on Beacon Hill."

Voice rising to a yell, Baker added: "Or you can choose four years of reform and restructuring Beacon Hill. Four years of taking on the special interests on Beacon Hill. Four years of fighting for the people who pay the bills: You."

Baker took the stage with a slate of Republicans hoping to win in traditionally Democratic Massachusetts: Sean Bielat, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Barney Frank; Karyn Polito, running for state treasurer; Mary Connaughton, candidate for state auditor and; James McKenna, candidate for attorney general.

They were led by U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, a former state senator from nearby Wrentham whose upset win in January's special election to replace the late Democrat Edward M. Kennedy invigorated the GOP across the country. Now Republicans are hoping to regain a majority in the House and the Senate on Tuesday.

"You have an opportunity, right now, in a couple of days, to send a very, very powerful message," said Brown, invoking some of the scandals that have touched the Statehouse. "That you're tired of the three speakers that have been indicted. That you're tired of the senator putting money down her shirt. You're tired of the overspending, the overtaxation, the complete lack of attention to the one thing that can get us going again, and that's jobs."

Brown joined Baker for part of a bus tour that had four stops. Patrick was working west to east on his own bus, starting in Holyoke and finishing in Lynn.

Independent Timothy Cahill was skipping the bus and working communities in the Boston suburbs. The public schedule for Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein was not immediately available.

Among those in the Baker audience was Ray Fuller, a 53-year-old auto parts buyer from Foxborough. An independent, he said Patrick hasn't delivered the change he promised four years ago.

"So let's go the change way again," Fuller said.

This program aired on October 30, 2010. The audio for this program is not available.

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